'And that's exactly what several fine, devoted Buffalo Sabres fans have done, pointing me in the direction of www.newblueandgold.com, a website that has featured cool proposals for new Sabres unis for the past couple of years.'

'Bartlett said the Sabres were interested in bringing Fitzpatrick back. Buffalo hadn't offered Fitzpatrick, who made $532,000, a contract extension but were looking to work something out closer to training camp. The Sabres had seven blueliners pencilled in ahead of Fitzpatrick.'

‘The Buffalo Sabres no longer can be second-guessed for having too many goalies. Martin Biron is the only goalie under contract and most people expect him to be traded. But the Sabres can’t deal him before they sign Ryan Miller, and he could be a holdout in quest of a huge (and deserved) raise and a long-term deal.’

'Dane Jackson will be following Fitzpatrick out of town. Unable to wait for the Sabres to act on hiring an assistant coach for the Rochester Americans, Jackson on Friday accepted an offer to become an assistant coach at the University of North Dakota, his alma mater.'

‘”The fact that he’s a professional athlete just floors me,” said Donato, who added that in June Briere raised $20,000 for Camp Good Days at a charity gala in which he donated memorabilia. “He’s given so much…He talks to kids that are really sick over the phone and puts his whole heart and soul into our organization. He’s absolutely genuine.”‘

'Dumont repeated the same mantra for every interviewer: It's too bad what happened. He's looking at all his options. Buffalo is one of those options. And he's not going to make a decision for a while. "I really love it here," he said. "I've been here for five or six years."'

'"Buffalo likes 'Fitzy' and said there could be something (before training camp) if we wanted to be patient," Bartlett said. "In this marketplace, I don't think you can be patient. You can be patient if you don't have another offer, but quite frankly we had some strong interest elsewhere."'